A Creative Cartoonist
Rube Goldberg,
1923, Popular
Science
Magazine
• Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, and author
• Went to college to become an engineer
• moved from San Francisco to New York drawing daily
cartoons for the Evening Mail
• believed that there were two ways to do things: the
simple way and the hard way
• Through his cartoon inventions, Goldberg discovered
difficult ways to achieve easy results
• To see some of Rube Goldberg’s
original cartoon inventions, visit
this webpage:
• Rube Goldberg Cartoon
Gallery
• Videos of students’ Rube
Goldberg machines can be
found at 8th grade Rube project
or Katie's 6th grade project
• Or here amazing Rube machine
• 1. Turn the handle on a toy cash register to open the drawer.2. The drawer pushes
a golf ball off a platform, into a small blue funnel, and down a ramp.3. The
falling golf ball pulls a string that releases the magic school bus (carrying a picture
of Rube Goldberg) down a large blue ramp.4. Rube's bus hits a rubber ball on a
platform, dropping the ball into a large red funnel.5. The ball lands on a
mousetrap (on the orange box) and sets it off.6. The mousetrap pulls a nail from
the yellow stick.7. The nail allows a weight to drop.8. The weight pulls a
cardboard "cork" from an orange tube.9. This drops a ball into a cup. 10. The cup
tilts a metal scale and raises a wire.11. The wire releases a ball down a red
ramp.12. The ball falls into a pink paper basket.13. The basket pulls a string to
turn the page of the book!
• The Lever
• A lever is a board or bar that
rests on a turning point called
the fulcrum.
• An object that a lever moves is
called the load.
• The closer the load is to the
fulcrum, the easier it is to
move.
• The claw end of a hammer that
you use to pry nails loose is an
example of a lever.
• Inclined Plane
• It is a flat surface that is raised
on one end.
• A common inclined plane is a
ramp.
• Inclined planes make it easier
work to move objects either
higher or lower.
• Wheel and Axle
• The axle is a rod that goes
through the wheel.
• The wheel, the round part, spins
and turns the axle and allows
both to move
• It is much easier to move things
with wheels and axles.
• Screw
• An inclined plane wrapped
around a cylinder becomes a
screw.
• A screw has sharp ridges and
is not smooth like a nail.
• Screws can be used to lower
and raise things.
• Screws can be used to hold
objects together, like the screw
on lid of a jar of peanut
butter!
• Wedge
• A wedge is made up of
two inclined planes.
• These two flat planes
meet and form a sharp
edge that can be used to
push things apart.
• A fork or the blade of an
axe are both wedges. The
edges of the blades are
smooth slanted surfaces.
• Pulley
• Instead of an axle, a wheel can
rotate a rope or cord. In a pulley,
a cord wraps around a wheel
• When you pull on one side of the
cord, the wheel turns and the load
will move.
• Pulleys are good for making
moving heavy loads a lot easier.
• Want to see the simple machines that you use in your daily life?
• Click here to find a whole house full of simple machines.
Your goal is to work in groups to create a complex machine
that uses at least 4 separate steps to complete the task:
pop a balloon.
Today, you are to draw your ideas for your machine.
In the next lab, we will begin construction and testing of
your complex machines.
• Your goal is to work in groups to create a complex machine
that uses at least 4 separate steps to complete the task: pop
a balloon.
• Today, you are to draw your ideas for your machine in your
science notebook.
• Indicate and label the steps involved as well as the simple
machines used.
• In the next lab, we will begin construction and testing of your
complex machines.
• Mousetrap image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/publik15/3847087508/
• Picture example: http://mousetrapcontraptions.com/cool-machines-3.html
• Simple machines info and images
http://www.fi.edu/qa97/spotlight3/inline/simplemachines.gif
• http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/frame_loader.htm